A Simple Request
by evenstar8705
Summary: Takes place in Season 6 like most of my stories. Intended to be the last conversation between Gul Dukat and Kira Nerys while he is in charge of the station.


Dukat had Major Kira summoned to Sisko's office, _his_ office. He had spent many more years occupying this room and the station of Terrok Nor. Captain Sisko was the arrogant one to call it his office, damn that Starfleet tool! He forgot what flimsy excuse he gave Damar for calling her as soon as the words left his lips. Damar sounded quite annoyed, but he obeyed, unlike Kira. She always took her time, but Dukat supposed he knew why and couldn't blame her.

She entered with military strides that were strangely graceful. Some Bajorans believed in reincarnation. Cardassians had abandoned superstition long ago, but Dukat had to wonder. Maybe she had been a dancer in another life. He noted the absence of her perfume. She had been applying minimal makeup to her face as well. Her attempts to make herself less attractive to him were adorable! A little less rouge made no difference to him. How shallow did she really think he was? Too much of her beauty was natural anyway. It was also an endearing gesture. She needed to prove that she wasn't the Bajoran succubus other Cardassians made her out to be. She wasn't trying to tease or entice any men but those chosen few she gifted with her love.

"What are your orders, Gul Dukat?"she asked in a flat, even tone. She was playing the part of an obedient soldier, blank-faced, straight spine, arms behind her back, feet firmly planted. Such submission didn't become her. He had become accustomed to her glares, the slight attitude in her posture, and the chip on her shoulder. He couldn't help but notice, however, that this particular pose and posturing caused her to unintentionally puff out her breasts. Her ears were turning red and hot. He longed to touch them beneath his fingers, to nibble at them, to remove her charming Bajoran earring and everything else she wore along with it.

"Dukat!" Kira thundered, interrupting his thoughts.

"Oh, there you are, Major! I was convinced for a moment that the Changeling had taken your shape!"

"Odo would never do that!" she snapped.

"Wouldn't or couldn't? Has Odo's shape-shifting abilities improved so much since he was my investigator?"

She scoffed, "He never worked for you and I respect the Constable too much to discuss him when he isn't here!"

"I recall paying him a handsome salary. I could find the records for you. Would you like me to pull them up on my screen right now?"

"There's no need for that. Odo showed me those records the first day that I came to this station and commanded it in the absence of the Federation. It was just him and I running this station for quite a few weeks before the Federation showed up. I trusted him from a previous encounter years before anyway, if you would remember! Every scrap of currency that you ever gave him went directly to Bajorans! He spent _nothing_ on himself! Don't you dare try to demonize the Constable!"

Dukat was astonished by how quickly and passionately Kira defended Odo. Dukat found the Changeling fascinating in his own way. Until the Gamma Quadrant opened up and the Founders were encountered, there was nothing like him in the known universe! He had no idea Kira felt so strongly for him, though, and on such a personal level. Had he known the extent of it, he would have begun teasing her about the Changeling a long time ago!

"Constable. I heard that you were the one that gave him that endearing title. I admit that I never gave him a rank or title of his own. He wasn't Cardassian military and didn't seem to care for names. I'd love to hear how and why you started calling him Constable Odo."

"I'm not here to tell you stories, especially when you can just ask Odo yourself! The three of us can sit here with some spring wine and reminisce about the good old days on the station. In fact, do it! I dare you to summon him here!"

"Are you sure he would respond to that? He seems to like the company of the Founder these days. I find the company I'm keeping right now far more appealing. If there is such a thing as a cold, unfeeling despot, that thing is the embodiment of it!"

Kira's face darkened and tried to change the subject, "I am more interested in getting work done, Dukat! Now what are your orders?"

"Is there anything I could do to entice your precious Changeling? He rebuffed my attempts of friendship in the past-"

"I wonder why!" Kira just couldn't help herself.

Dukat paid her interruption no mind and moved closer to her, "Perhaps Odo would jump at the chance if I told him that you were here, alone with me and so very vulnerable. Odo pretended to be neutral and a champion of blind justice, but I always knew otherwise. I simply found him too amusing to dismiss him! He also always did his job more efficiently than any Cardassian officer. Changelings don't need to eat or sleep or rest like humanoids! He had no relationships, no hidden agendas, no hobbies. All he had was his job! He does, however, have a weakness for the innocents, for little children and for beautiful women like yourself, doesn't he, Major? That's why he swooped to your rescue when you were accused of murder. Remind me, weren't you, in fact, guilty of murdering my chemist all those years ago?"

"That's right, I was!" Kira bristled with pride. "I was guilty of killing your Collaborator! I would have killed all the rest of them if I had the chance! Not only did I kill him, I got away with it, Dukat! How does that make you feel?"

"How did it make the Changeling feel to know that you lied to him? You, the self-righteous Bajoran terrorist that you are! You are not perfect either! Unlike you, I never pretended to be!"

She looked stricken, "I like to think that he knows now that I had no choice. You would have killed me Dukat. Isn't that right? It was either execute me or round up random Bajorans to execute instead."

Dukat had no smug response to that. The thought of killing Kira Nerys brought a lump to his throat. He didn't think he could have brought himself to do it. She would never believe that. Instead, he returned the topic to Odo.

"Is the Changeling your personal protector? He is corruptible. He is a man, don't let his Changeling shape fool you!"

"Man, alien, _pagh_ , whatever he is, he is honorable! You can't even keep to the Cardassian code of honor!"

Dukat reveled in her anger too much for her words to sting, at least, not for the reasons she intended them to. He was tired of defending his honor. This woman would never let up on proving that he had none. With every word she spoke praising and defending her Changeling, though, something inside him began to feel deflated. He felt more urge to tear down Odo.

"You expect me to believe that the Changeling is perfect?"

"He has a name, Dukat!"

"And you say it like a sacred prayer and say mine like a curse! Well, for all his honor and poorly disguised hatred of me, the right thing for him to do should have been to kill me or overthrow me. A pity he can't duplicate people. The best he can do to imitate Cardassians was his silly Cardassian neck trick! If he could replace me, do you think he would? Have you bothered to really question your Changeling pet? You are so quick to condemn me, the both of you! Isn't that what you believe, that I am somehow evil incarnate?"

Kira cracked a smile and answered, "Yes. We have simply accepted that during the Occupation and now you are simply a necessary evil. "

"You really think me so wicked, Major?"

He drew as close to her as he dared without actually touching her. To her credit, she didn't flinch away. In this proximity, she was at the mercy of his pheromones. Cardassians had some of the most aggressive pheromones of any species, those invisible and odorless chemicals, nefarious and discreet in their purpose. He had done this as often as he dared, hoping that they would eventually overwhelm her as they seemed to have done with Kira Meru and Tora Naprem. He had loved both those women in his own way, but Nerys would point out that Naprem had little choice but to humor his affections. She didn't even know about his relationship with her mother. If she knew, he was certain she would have tried to kill him several times over. She would insist that it was not love. She would come to hate her mother.

Ah, Meru had been quite a prize! She was a talented artist and a gentle and pleasant mistress. She was tame and serene compared to Nerys. It was hard to believe sometimes that the woman before him was her daughter! He wondered where that fiery spirit and red hair of hers had come from. It certainly wasn't from her father. Dukat had cuckolded that man. Taking his wife was easier than taking candy from a child. A child would have at least fussed. A man that didn't bother to fight for his own wife never deserved her in the first place. Perhaps he was being unfair. The husband was also a father with three little children dependent upon him. He hadn't planned on tracking down and falling for Meru's daughter. He had never laid eyes upon Nerys until she arrived that fateful day on the station and Dukat and Odo met her for the first time as an undercover Resistance fighter.

Whether she was Meru's child or not, Dukat wanted Kira Nerys. He had never wanted any woman so badly before, Bajoran or Cardassian. He was in his full power. He had absolutely everything he had ever wanted. The last thing that eluded him was this woman standing in front of him now. If only she would capitulate. He had her fear but he wanted her love.

"If there was anything you asked of me, I would give it you, Nerys," he whispered.

Anger flashed in her eyes when he dared to use her first name again. Then her anger was gone. Her lips quirked into a teasing smile. She leaned in toward him. For a split second, he thought his wildest fantasies were about to come true. Bajorans gave off pheromones of their own. They were weak compared to his, but his species were aware of them. Her body was giving them off right now. She let out a small sound from her throat, a simple thing, and yet it was powerfully erotic. He prepared for what promised to be the most passionate kiss of his life. He could taste triumph. He wanted to taste her and feel her impossibly smooth skin on his. He had a terrible weakness for the skin of Bajoran women. It was his Achilles heel, as the Starfleet humans would have said. He read their Greek and Roman myths from time to time. He was more than prepared for this Bajoran Venus, this Aphrodite, to finally admit there was nothing one-sided about this relationship and never had been. His scales flashed a dark, rich color, betraying his every emotion and feeling.

His victory turned to ash in his mouth. She never intended to kiss this monster. She simply wanted to invoke the succubus role that he had assigned for her, to throw it in his smug face and use it against him. It was amazing how much fun it had been! Kira laughed her distinctive peal of laughter. This was her victory. She had never seen that particular reaction from anyone. It fascinated her for a moment. Then the anger returned to her voice and fell on him like acid rain.

"I want Ghemor back! Captain Sisko told me that you attempted to poison him! You think I would forget that? I want my family back! I want my comrades from the Resistance back! Oh, I know you aren't personally responsible for all those deaths. No! You were only the officer in charge of the Occupation of Bajor! If you want to keep skirting all personal responsibility for those deaths, let me name more specific crimes! Oh yes, let's go there! I want you to summon the _pagh_ of but one Bajoran man that you personally sent to the mines on this very station back into a whole and perfect body! I want you to go back in time and spare even one soldier or civilian that you killed with your hands! Then I would give you everything that you desired from me and more, Dukat! I would make you feel all the pleasure of the universe! But can you do one of those things?"

He scowled and she grimaced back. They both knew his answer. She was asking for the impossible and so was he.

"Stop playing these games with me and tell me why I'm here, Dukat!"

More crushed than he would ever admit, Dukat said, "Ziyal has been crying alone in her room ever since you said you wouldn't make her choose between you and me and walked away from her."

Kira pulled away from him at last and pain crept into her eyes. Dukat's proud shoulders slouched and he stepped away from her at the same time. The entire mood of the room had shifted.

"She told you about that?" Kira said softly.

"Yes. I am grateful that you didn't try to turn her away from me, Kira. I'm sure that would have been all too easy for you. My wife wasn't so noble. She took my children from me. She has gone into hiding with another Gul. She has told them half-truths and lies about me. I deserve that. But she also tells them vicious things about their sister and Ziyal doesn't deserve that. My marriage fell apart long before Ziyal was born."

He saw empathy in Kira's eyes. For all her hatred and revulsion toward him, she was an amazingly compassionate woman when she wanted to be. Or perhaps she showed it only when a man or woman proved that they deserved it. He realized that's the best he could get from Kira Nerys. She could pity him, like him, she might even harbor a grudging attraction to him, but forgiving and loving her greatest and oldest enemy was demanding far too much. He might as well ask her to sell her _pagh_ to him as well as her body.

"You believed the rumors that I had them killed, didn't you?"

"No."

"No?" he was surprised again.

"You spared Ziyal after you told me that you were going to kill her. I am convinced now that you would have spared her all on your own. You didn't need me to threaten and cajole you. You gave me the role of your conscience that day. Now you want some kind of forgiveness. Ziyal told me that's what you wanted. You are seeking it in the wrong woman and from the wrong place in your heart. Your daughter is your redemption, Dukat. You can't give me what I want. Make a life and future for her instead."

"You have the makings of a vedek, you know that? Perhaps even Kai someday. Don't mistake me! I'm not making fun of you! I am trying to do what you advise. That's why I'm asking you to go see my daughter as soon as you leave this room. Don't shun her because of me. I promise you that I will never try to use her to manipulate you again. I think she knows she'll never bring us together now as well. She wanted to make her father happy and she loves you so much. You have been raising her like your own when you didn't have to. I just can't bear to see her unhappy. Please do this for me. Please, Nerys."

This one time, she allowed him to use her name. She looked at him a long time and simply nodded. Dukat closed his eyes and sighed with relief.

"Thank you. That was the real reason I called you here, even if I didn't know it until just now. It's not an order, it's a simple request."

"I will do it for Ziyal's sake."

"You really would make a perfect mother. My wife would have never embraced Ziyal. You are proving a better mother than Naprem herself might have been. No one could have shown my baby girl the unconditional love that you do. When you offered to take care of my daughter for me when we stood together on that Klingon bird of prey that we stole, that is the moment I fell madly in love with you."

Kira's lips parted in an expression of surprise and overwhelmed shock. Dukat had teased her, harassed her, threatened her, but he had never once spoken of love. It wasn't a very Cardassian thing to do either. He was charmed yet again. Impulsively, he stepped forward, seized one of her hands, and he stole a quick kiss upon her palm. He fought his instincts to go any further. He released her and turned his back on her. She didn't retaliate.

"You are dismissed, Major."

Kira stood frozen in place for a long time, staring thoughtfully at Dukat's back. Yes, perhaps if he had been less arrogant, less ruthless, and if he had shown more contrition and mercy, she could have loved him. His attributes as a father almost redeemed him. Almost. There was a nagging voice that told her there were things simmering under the surface of that man's scales, though. She was convinced that he was not only downplaying many of his sins but outright denying them still. No, there was a much better man on this station.

Finally, she opened the door to leave. Odo, the exact man she had been picturing, was standing on the other side of it. Dukat heard his voice greeting her. Kira blushed, wondering how much the Constable had heard of the conversation. He winked at her, seeing the question in her face and answering non-verbally. He was also looking at her with enormous pride. She flashed him such a tender, affectionate smile. Dukat looked over his shoulder and saw the way that they looked at each other. One would never guess they had been shouting at each other a few hours before. He couldn't believe he was jealous of a Changeling! Changelings were supposed to care only about other Changelings and feel no romantic or sexual love. He supposed not even those terrible creatures were immune to the charms of a woman like Kira Nerys.


End file.
